


Dawn Will Break Soon

by Solar_is



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Timeline, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kuroo and Kenma are supportive friends, Music Oriented, No Smut, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, Suicide mention, i do mean slow burn, past trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solar_is/pseuds/Solar_is
Summary: "The seasons I had lived in with youLittle by little becomes distant, only from me"Hoshino Ritsuka had spent the last three years of her life drifting by, her only anchors being her two childhood friends: Kuroo Tetsurou and Kozume Kenma. The two boys do their best to bring happiness back to the girl's life but she's stuck in a cycle of apathy. Every time Ritsu looks at her guitar, gathering dust in the corner of her bedroom, she remembers why she needs to forget her feelings. She doesn't feel like she deserves to make music, to be lost in her passion, to love again. This is all her punishment for words she can never take back."Even if you're not here, I can keep on livingThat is what saddens me"Loosely inspired by "Given" by Natsuki Kizu and will have many references to it, along with songs directly from it. In later chapters will have many references to later chapters from "Nana" by Ai Yazawa and possibly cameos of characters from Nana so be warned of spoilers.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting on Ao3 and my first time in like 6 years writing fanfic. I'll probably take a long time to update because my writing style needs work after going through film school and learning to write differently for scripts. The title and lyrics used in the summary come from the song "Yoru ga Akeru" from the _"Given"_ movie which I haven't actually seen but the song just plays on repeat in my head and was a big inspiration for writing this fic.
> 
> The story takes place in 2012, like actual Haikyuu so I'll try my best to keep stuff referencing to this time (stuff like Kenma won't have a Switch since it's from 2017). I guess that's it for now, hope you enjoy.

“Ritsu” Called a young boy sitting on the floor, hunched over his PSP, his fingers rhythmically pressing buttons. His dyed blonde hair was falling on his eyes but it didn’t seem like it was bothering him. “I need a heal”

“Mhmm… Just a sec” Answered a lean girl, lying on the couch near the boy, focusing on her own PSP. She quickly created the healing combo and a soft jingle sounded from the PSP’s. She popped her bubblegum and looked at her other friend who was across from her on the couch, her legs on his lap. “Tetsu, want any buffs?”

“I don’t need any if Kenma just gets back here and charge attacks this f*cking dragon” Grunted a boy with messy black hair, lifting his eyes to throw a glare at the boy on the floor but quickly going back to the game, just in time to block a furious attack from the monster. He was the only one in the group that wasn’t slouched but he seemed comfortable with the girl’s legs on his lap, it became a good place to rest his elbows as he played.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it” Kenma said dismissively, his bow glowing with the charged attack as he fired at the monster that was trying to fly in the air, making it drop down as Ritsu and Tetsu attacked its head with force. “Also, it isn’t really a dragon” Tetsu rolled his eyes and Ritsu let out a small chuckle, the party’s joint attacks soon had the monster dying with a bang. 

“Yeeeeeeeees!” Tetsu yelled in delight, pumping his fist in the air. His face was split in a large grin as he celebrated their victory. Kenma closed his eyes and stretched his arms, relishing quietly as the black haired teen started laughing loudly and patting the girl’s legs in joy. “That went so well!”

“It’s almost midnight, Tetsu, you’ll wake up the entire neighborhood if you keep being so loud” Ritsu complained, pulling her legs away from him. 

“You’re acting like Yamamoto, Kuroo” Kenma said, getting up from the floor and patting his sweatpants to get rid of any dust.

“Nothing wrong with being happy over a win” Kuroo Tetsurou shrugged. “Come on, Kenma, we just killed five monsters tonight, that’s a great streak” He smirked at the other boy. “Of course that was only possible because of my amazing guards, you’d all be dead without me”

“We’d be dead if Ritsu wasn’t healing us, don’t be so arrogant” Kenma scoffed and went to help the girl who had gotten up to collect the plates and cups that were strewn around the living room, the remains of all the snacks and drinks they’d consumed during the evening playing _Monster Hunter_. Ritsu gave him a thankful look and Kuroo started cleaning up wrappers and other trash. The three friends helped each other carry everything to the kitchen, Kuroo throwing out the trash as Ritsu started rinsing the dirty dishes so she could leave them in the dishwasher. 

Kenma meanwhile sat down on the counter by the sink and started playing with his phone. Kuroo frowned at the boy, remembering that he was now too tall to sit on the counter like him without his head hitting the cupboards. With a sigh, he leaned against the other counter frustrated over one of the few low points of his height.

“Bark! Bark bark!” A small fluffy ball ran inside the kitchen and rammed against Ritsu’s leg. 

“Nana! Are you done with your nap?” Ritsu smiled but didn’t reach out for the small dog since her hands were wet from rinsing dishes. Kuroo left his spot on the counter and took the dog in his arms, patting its head as it reached to lick his hands. He had always been a fan of dogs but Nana was definitely too adorable for words, it was a pomeranian with shiny tan fur and lovely brown eyes.

“Did you have sweet dreams, baby girl?” Kuroo asked the dog in a sweet voice, nuzzling its snout and caressing its fluffy tummy.

“I swear your IQ drops 50 points when you’re near a dog” Kenma said, rolling his eyes at his best friend’s idiocy. Ritsu laughed and started piling the dishes into the dishwasher.

“What can I do, these beautiful eyes seduced me at first sight. I can’t resist when she looks at me like this” Kuroo hugged Nana against his neck and rubbed cheeks with her. Kenma reached out his hand and pet the dog’s chin, earning him some happy licks. Kuroo gasped in betrayal. “Nana, how could you do this to me? It’s clear I treat you better yet you kiss another man right in front of me?”

“Leave her alone, you guys” Ritsu interrupted, taking the dog into her own arms. Nana barked happily at her owner’s embrace and licked the girl’s hands. “Shouldn’t you be leaving anyway? You need to catch the shinkansen early tomorrow”

“What do you mean, we’re staying here” Kuroo smirked. Seeing Ritsu’s raised eyebrow he said “We’ll be out for a week, of course we need to stay for a sleepover. Just like old times” She stared at him for a moment, then looked over at the blonde who shrugged at her.

“Fine” She sighed but didn’t look unhappy at the situation. “But you’re getting the futons from the closet and taking them upstairs, you’re too big for my bed now”

* * *

“So, what are your plans for this lonely golden week without your best friends?” Kuroo asked Ritsu while he played with her long wavy hair. He was now sitting on her bed with her head on her lap. On the other side of the bed, Kenma had picked his PSP back and was playing with his back against the window. Nana was in Ritsu’s arms, snoozing again as she found her owner’s arms the best place to sleep. 

Kuroo had always been fascinated by her hair, the ash blonde curls almost seemed to beg for him to mess with it and he was secretly proud of how after many years of friendship the girl had stopped complaining about him touching it.

“Hana-chan asked me to go shopping for some stuff for the club, I don’t know which day though” Ritsu shrugged, indifferent to her friend’s teasing and disinterested in her apparent plans. “I think I’ll be working most of the week though, maybe I’ll wait for you guys at the station when you get back” 

“Your mom is out for work again?” Kenma asked and Ritsu hummed in confirmation, used to the woman’s absence during holidays. The youngest boy threw a glance at the girl, his eyes flashing with slight concern but the others weren’t looking to notice it. “You’ll be okay alone?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Just go enjoy Miyagi and play, I can survive by myself” She pet behind Nana’s ears but didn’t make eye contact with either of the boys. “I’ll be busy anyway, wouldn’t see you even if you weren’t out of the city”

“It’s not that we’re worried-” Kuroo started but a glance from the girl cut off what he planned on saying. “Ok, we worry but we know you can handle yourself. We just don’t want you being lonely”

“I know, I get it” She sighed. “If you want, I’ll stay near my phone in case you mail me and I’ll answer if I’m not busy at work” She looked at them and cracked a small smile. “And Nana’s going to be here, how can I be lonely?”

“Alright fine” Kuroo smirked and ruffled her hair making Ritsu slap his hand away in annoyance. They looked to Kenma who raised his eyes and nodded before getting back to his game. “Let’s go to bed. Kenma, stop playing or you won’t wake up and I’ll leave you behind” His words earned him a discontented grunt from the younger boy.

“Just let me finish this dungeon” Kenma said. Ritsu took this opportunity to poke Kuroo’s side, making the black haired teen yelp.

“Oi! What the heck, Ritsu!” He complained.

“Get out of my bed if you’re going to sleep, I told you you’re too big for it already” She poked him again and pointed at the futon they had laid out earlier. 

“What do you mean, it’s so comfortable here” He smirked, stretching his long limbs until he took up most of the space on the bed and invading on Ritsu’s personal space. The girl rolled her eyes before shifting and kicking him to the floor. “Ouch, Ritsu! What am I going to do if I’m injured for the matches? What a tragedy it’ll be for the team, their captain unable to join while we suffer a horrible defeat” Kuroo put his hands over his head in a dramatic fashion, pretending to be hurt.

“We’d manage without you” Kenma commented drily as he turned off his game, got off the bed. Standing on the corner most futon, he threw a light kick at the fallen body beside him. “Get out of my futon, you just said we should sleep now” Kuroo gasped in mock hurt, the drama amping up.

“Et tu, Kenma?” Noticing the unimpressed gazes of his friends he burst into laughter. Kenma kicked him again and Kuroo rolled to avoid, opening up the space Kenma wanted. “You guys are no fun” He said after he stopped laughing.

“It’s good that you don’t want to be a comedian, Tetsu, you’d starve to death” Ritsu deadpanned. Kenma sniggered, Ritsuka’s deadpan reactions to Kuroo’s teasing always made him laugh. Kuroo, fake offended at his friends ganging up on him, got up to turn off the lights and plopped down on the futon closer to Ritsu’s bed. The pudding haired boy settled for the other one, silently rejoicing in its proximity to the power plug so he could be near his phone and handheld.

The three teenagers shuffled under their covers, getting comfortable and ready to sleep. Surprisingly, Kenma is the first one to fall asleep, letting out soft snores while curled up like a burrito under his blanket. Kuroo sniggered quietly, trying not to wake him, the sight of his best friend sleeping so cutely always made him feel like he was looking at another person. When sleep was almost taking over he heard a low melody. Shifting around in his futon, he looked up and noticed the melody was Ritsu humming to herself.

Observing the girl, he remembered the energetic and creative child he’d met eight years before. She was always singing, humming, or playing an instrument. It was like she was a bird and could only communicate through music. The three friends each had their own obsession and while they all took turns playing volleyball or video games, the two boys were just not very musically inclined so they could only sit and listen to Ritsu’s songs.

It felt like forever since he’d last heard the girl sing. The voice he loved so much as a child was now locked deep inside Ritsu’s heart but now, listening to her gentle humming, he felt like there was hope to listen to it again soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s short but this is mostly my way of building up their friendship. Probably will have chapters about this length though, in my mind each chapter is a scene and the beginning of the story is mostly short scenes until the plot builds up. 
> 
> Hope you like it! Chapter two is mostly done but I’ll take a while to edit it, please don’t expect fast updates ^^


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished this one, I kinda suffered thinking of how to show Ritsu's life and a glimpse in her relationships outside of the volleyball boys but they'll be back next chapter.

Outside of Shibuya Station, a tall girl with long blonde hair waited next to Hachiko’s statue. She was enjoying her sweet bubble tea, ignoring some curious looks that were thrown her way. Some girls talked to each other about her, wondering if she was foreign or a model, out for a photoshoot. Ritsu never paid attention to that, a lot of people asked if she was foreign or assumed she didn’t speak japanese and after many years she got used to the stares.

“Hoshino-chan!” Ritsuka raised her head to see a short girl waving and running to meet her. She stopped next to Ritsu and panted, resting her hands on her legs as she tried to breathe properly after her run. “God, I’m really not athletic”

“Here” Ritsuka said as she offered her bubble tea, the girl accepted it and took long gulps as she calmed down. “Better now?” The girl smiled and straightened up, returning the cup.

“I’m fine now, I’m just not used to running hahaha” She laughed, even if she was tired she was still bubbly. “You got here early, Hoshino-chan”

“I had lunch around here” Ritsuka answered, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. She was wearing black jean shorts, thigh-high black socks with combat boots, a graphic T-shirt, and a red flannel jacket. “Also I told you already to call me Ritsu, Hana-chan”

“No way, your surname is so cool! I wish I had a name as cool as yours” Hana complained. She was wearing a simple outfit of jeans, a blue T-shirt, sneakers, and a denim jacket. Every time she saw Ritsuka in casual clothes it always struck her how fashionable she always looked and struggled to not compare herself to the taller girl, knowing she’d come up short. “Everyone in the club has cool names and here I am, stuck with Nakamura Hana”

“It’s a cute name though” Ritsuka offered. They’d had this discussion multiple times as Ritsuka insisted on Hana calling her by her nickname. Knowing they’d stay still if she let Hana keep complaining, Ritsu started walking in the general direction of the store they were looking for with Hana following subconsciously.

“It’s so generic! Not only is my surname so common my parents went ahead and called me Hana! Can I be any more ordinary?” Hana fake cried, pulling Ritsu to the right street while she continued her rant. “Hoshino is so cute and Ritsuka is so cool, y’know, this unisex feel. Kaneko-chan too, her last name is just so cool and Subaru matches her so well! Do I look like a Hana? I’m not even girly!”

Ritsuka only nodded in response, she wasn’t much of a talker, and trying to argue with Hana was a past-time only Sora took part in. They soon reached the store Hana was looking for, the windows showing telescopes of all sizes in every corner. The walls had shelves with star charts, lenses of all shapes and sizes, and many books about astronomy. Behind the counter stood a lanky middle-aged man with glasses, reading one of the books he was selling.

“Yamada-san!” Hana greeted as the girls entered the store. The man looked up and smiled when he saw the visitor.

“Hana-chan! How are you? Here to buy a new telescope already?” The girls came closer to the counter and Ritsu looked around, half paying attention to their conversation.

“I’m buying a new one for my high school club, we only have an old one so it’s hard to go star-gazing when we need to alternate who gets to use it” Hana explained, the smile on her face grew larger as she looked around at the beauties around her. She’d been in love with the stars since she was a kid and had met Yamada-san watching the stars with his telescope on a riverbank one night. He’d taught her everything she knew and gave her her very first telescope so they became close friends despite the age difference.

“Ohoh, you managed to get one up? If I remember correctly, Nekoma closed their astronomy club almost ten years ago” He smiled, patting the young girl’s hair. 

“Yeah! I found some people last year and we made our club! We just got enough club funds from the school to buy another telescope, they didn’t really want to give money to a club that’s not going to have many achievements” Hana said, fixing her hair. “Hoshino-chan is our treasurer so she came with me to help” Hearing her name, Ritsu looked back at them and waved.

“Hoshino-chan, huh? Tell me, how much did Hana harass you until you joined?” Yamada asked, chuckling. He knew how insisting the girl could be as she’d spent weeks bothering him to teach her about astronomy when she was a child.

“Oh, it was fine, I needed to join a club anyway” Ritsu said dismissively, coming closer to the counter.

“Yeah! What do you mean, Yamada-san, I never harassed anyone!” Hana pouted, offended at the notion. Ritsu looked away, she could talk about how it took almost a month of bothering Subaru-chan every day until the girl agreed to join or how Hana had manipulated Sora into becoming the vice-president after telling him there’d be many cute girls in the club. Noticing Ritsu’s silence instead of agreement, Hana decided to move on from this subject before she dug deeper into her grave. Coughing slightly to hide her embarrassment she said “So, Hoshino-chan, can you show Yamada-san how much money we have?”

“Yeah” Ritsu nodded and pulled her wallet out from her bag. Taking out the banknotes, she put them on the counter. “If possible, we’d like to buy two cheap telescopes even if they’re used but if this money isn’t enough we can buy a nice one instead” Yamada took the notes and counted, deep in thought. He looked at a corner of the store and made calculations in his mind.

“Well… For this money I guess I could make a discount on two used Takahashi I have in the back if you’d like. They’re not very easy to assemble but Hana can probably teach you” Hana perked up, asking to see them and Yamada got up from his chair to go through a small door behind the counter, coming back after some time with two boxes. He opened them on the counter, displaying each part and Hana marveled, starting a deep conversation with Yamada about each telescope.

_ Brrr _

Ritsu noticed her phone vibrating in her back pocket. Picking it up she saw Kenma had just messaged her. She looked up from her phone and seeing how Hana was too busy discussing details from the telescopes, a conversation Ritsu couldn’t even follow if she tried, she decided to answer.

**_I’m lost_ **

**_What do you mean lost? Where’s Tetsu?_ **

**_Dunno_ **

**_I’m lost u see_ **

**_You didn’t appear on tv right? Don’t want you getting murdered_ **

**_If only my life was like Persona_ **

**_But no_ **

**_I didn’t_ **

**_Well Tetsu ‘s going to find you soon_ **

**_Just wait I guess_ **

**_I think I saw a farm near here_ **

**_Like with actual animals_ **

**_Wild_ **

**_You’re just messing with me_ **

**_Maybe_ **

**_You’ll never know_ **

**_…_ **

**_(￣ー￣;)_ **

**_Ur not funny_ **

**_[cat.jpg]_ **

**_An actual animal_ **

**_Still not funny_ **

After a while without Kenma answering her, Ritsu turned back to look at her friend and the shopkeeper who had finished their conversation.

“Ritsu! We’re taking these two!” Hana beamed, helping Yamada-san pack them up. Ritsu nodded and settled the bill with Yamada-san then helped Hana carry one of the telescopes, waving goodbye as they left.

“Since that’s settled, do you need anything else from Shibuya?” Ritsu asked. Hana stopped and started thinking.

“Don’t know… But we could eat lunch together, it’s almost midday” Hana looks around, searching for a place to eat. Ritsu’s phone buzzes in her pocket but she ignores it until the girls decide on a place and sit down. Opening up the menu and scrutinizing the options, Hana asked “Hmm, what do you want? It’s my treat since you’re helping me carry the telescopes to my house”

“Omurice” Ritsu answered, barely looking at the menu before deciding arbitrarily. She took her phone from her pocket and checked the series of messages Kenma had sent.

**_This weird kid just showed up and is talking to me_ **

**_He plays volleyball too_ **

**_He won’t stop talking_ **

**_Pretty sure he’s from that school our coach has some rivalry or something_ **

**_Kuroo found me_ **

**_Think it could be fun playing against him_ **

**_(°◇°)_ **

**_Kenma? Having fun? Without videogames?_ **

**_I think this phone was hacked_ **

**_Who are you and why did you steal Kenma’s phone?_ **

**_You’re a terrible friend_ **

**_Well yeah_ **

**_But you having actual fun with volleyball is something I’d only believe seeing_ **

**_Gtg, practice match now_ **

**_Have fun lol_ **

“Something funny happened with the volleyball boys?” Hana asked, thanking the waiter that brought their drinks. 

“Kenma got lost and met a volleyball player on the street who kept talking to him” Ritsu turned off her phone and took a sip from her drink.

“They went to some kind of training camp for golden week right? Where is it, I thought they used to stay near Tokyo”

“Some small towns in Miyagi I think, their coach has an old rivalry with a coach from there so they scheduled some practice matches there”

“Miyagi?! Oh my god, are they going to see the Kakuda Space Center? Oh wow I’ve always wanted to go there, it’s where they research and make the rocket engines for Jaxa!” Hana started geeking out, winning a small smile from Ritsu who always found it cute when her friend geeked out about astronomy.

“They can’t, they’re just going to play practice games and train” Their food arrived and they started eating.

“That’s such a waste, they’re all the way to another prefecture and all they’re doing is playing inside a gym” 

“Well they’d do that in Tokyo anyway so I think it’s fun for them to meet new people”

“Hmm, true.” Hana wonders, mixing the rice on her plate as she thinks. “I wish our club could go on trips but we don’t have the money for it…”

“We went out for Tanabata last year” Ritsu points out, remembering their first outing as a club.

“It was just an excuse to force everyone to go together to the festival” Hana mumbles, finally admitting to her plan. “It wasn’t like there was much we could do together during school hours in an  _ astronomy club _ . And even then, you still dragged Kozume-san and Kuroo-san”

“I didn’t drag them, they followed me”

“Same thing” Hana shrugs, making Ritsu roll her eyes. 

“Well we could probably try to save our budget for a small trip if there’s anything interesting, talk to Aoyama-sensei and she could probably help us” Hana becomes contemplative for the rest of the meal.

After they get to Hana’s house, her mother asks if Ritsu wants to stay for some tea but she politely refuses. Bored, she decided to walk home since it wasn’t very far.

Stopping by a konbini, she bought snacks and ready-made food for the week she’d spend alone. She knew that Kenma’s mother would be happy to share meals with her but it always felt weird depending on the woman when it was just the two of them. Staring at the shelves, she picked some ingredients randomly after deciding she might as well use this week to try learning how to cook  _ something _ .

She started munching on pocky as soon as she left the store, if Tetsu were here he’d comment how she’s addicted to it. The truth is, eating snacks had started as something to calm herself down, a way of distracting herself from unhealthy thoughts, and pocky was one of her favorite snacks to do it. Her allowance was way more than she could usually spend so it didn’t hurt anyone, just Tetsu with his mom complex who always tried making Kenma and her eat more healthy foods.

She smiled as she thought of her friends, she wanted to message them but they were probably still in the middle of a game. Seeing an empty playground across the street she goes inside on a whim and sits on a swing. Humming to herself, she gets lost in thoughts.

_ “Kyoya-kun!” Ritsu called, waving to the boy across the street. He was 15, his soft brown hair reached his chin and made his reddish eyes more prominent. He had a large smile as he came closer, his tall height becoming more apparent. _

_ “Ritsu!” He kisses her cheek, causing a small blush to grow on her face. “Let’s go, we’re going to be late” _

_ “You’re the one who’s late though” Ritsu laughs and they join hands, hurrying to the movie theater that was near them. “I bought the tickets already, you can buy the snacks” _

_ They both pay little attention to the movie, too busy sneaking glances at the other. It’d been a couple of months since they started dating but Ritsu felt like it was the day they’d confessed their love. As they left the theater, she pulled his sleeve and dragged him to a cute cafe next door. Inside, they saw as the snow started falling outside the window. The christmas lights illuminated the street that became brighter with the white snow and they smiled at each other, sharing a chocolate dessert as they enjoyed the last moments of this christmas date. _

_ Brrr _

Ritsu’s phone vibrated again, taking her out of her reverie. Blinking, she looked around and noticed that the sun was setting and she’d been sitting on this swing for hours. She took her phone from her pocket and saw a message from Tetsu.

**_U heard Kenma got lost?_ **

**_Should’ve taken his phone from him so he pays attention to where he’s going_ **

**_How was your day?_ **

She smiled, it always felt like Tetsu knew just when to say something. She blinks again and notices the tears falling out of her lashes. As she wipes them from her cheeks and eyes, her smile becomes sour and she reaches inside one of the plastic bags to find another packet of pocky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small reference to Persona 4, haha, wish I could talk about 5 but it wasn't out in 2012. Also, research on telescopes is hard so I just left it as background noise. Hana and the Astronomy club will show up regularly though if you're interested in her and knowing the others!


End file.
